KABESHA IS “DANGEROUSLY ” PUTTING HIMSELF IN HARM’S WAY – LUBINDA
GIVEN Lubinda claims that a fragmented opposition would give the Electoral Commission of Zambia justification to rig the August elections.
Meanwhile, Lubinda says Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha should tone down, as he was ‘dangerously putting himself in harm’s way”.
In an interview, Sunday, Lubinda said it’s a pity the opposition had not come together to remove President Hakainde Hichilema.
“It’s just a pity that the opposition is not doing as we have been saying; working together to show Hichilema the door. The opposition ought to come together as quickly as possible, I have been calling for this, that all the opposition leaders must give up their personal ego to make sure that we unite to remove him (Hakainde Hichilema).
Whatever effort has been made is not sufficient, by now we should have been talking about a single candidate, we haven’t gotten there yet. I’m urging all of us opposition leaders to come together and agree on a single candidate and that’s what I’m urging the opposition leaders to do. A fragmented opposition just gives the ECZ an opportunity to justify rigging, if we [the] opposition go into these elections fragmented, we’ll be justifying the rigging by ECZ because they’ll blame it on a fragmented opposition. They will say Hakainde Hichilema has won because the opposition was fragmented, but if we go into it as a single unit, they will have no opportunity or whatsoever,” Lubinda said.
Meanwhile, commenting on the latest developments on Lungu’s burial impasse, Lubinda said Kabesha should realise that he will not remain in his position forever.
“As a friend of Edgar Chagwa Lungu, I feel heartbroken that his body has been mutilated without the presence of any family representative. It’s medically unethical for any post-mortem to be conducted on a body of a person whose family are known and yet it is done in their absence. It is totally unethical.
There must be no condition that will allow any pathologist to conduct a post-mortem on the remains who has known family members, and if this is going to be a reward for a person who served this country in a manner that Edgar Lungu did, then really, we are going to be discouraging people from serving the country. People deserve honour during their lifetime and more so during the time that they leave the world.
On top of that, I would like to advice my friend and when I call him my friend, it is true he is my friend; Mulilo Kabesha is overstepping the authority of his office and he is doing it so dangerously that he is putting himself in harms way. He must know that he will not remain in that office forever,” Lubinda said.
“There were attorney generals before him and they performed the functions of that office in a manner that is totally different from what Kabesha is doing. He is Attorney General and his constitutional responsibility is to be principle legal advisor to the country; he is principle legal advisor to the government. He is not a spokesperson of the government; he is not a spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice.
We have heard Mulilo Kabesha making all sorts of policy pronouncements, we have heard Kabesha making statements which do not belong to the Office of [the] Attorney General. The statement he issued yesterday (Saturday) which was covered on ZNBC is not a statement that is expected to come from the Office of [the] Attorney General.
I’m speaking with authority, having been a member of parliament for 20 years, and having been minister of justice under whose ministry the Attorney General’s office belongs. The statement that he issued yesterday is a statement that should have been issued either by the government spokesperson or if they found it to be too heavy of a statement, it should have been issued by Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister of Justice”.
Lubinda further advised Kabesha to tone down on commenting on issues surrounding Lungu.
“What has the Attorney General got to do in telling us that the body of Edgar Chagwa Lungu was not in the possession of the government of Zambia? Is that the job of the Attorney General? Is that a legal issue? What legal issue is there in that matter? There was no legal issue that he was addressing in that matter.
The matter of the possession of the body of Edgar Chagwa Lungu is not a legal issue, so I would like to advice Kabesha [to say] let him tone down, what he is doing shall follow him when he leaves office.
Can he make sure that he sticks to his lane to be principle legal advisor to government, let him look at legal issues, advise government and let government’s appropriate offices conduct work that he is doing such as taking to the microphone. So, I would like Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha to tone down, if he thinks that he is shielding his appointing authority, he is not. He is just terribly exposing himself to a lot of danger,” said Lubinda.
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